Neither snow nor rain nor … violence?

After an assault or robbery, many carriers, such as Walker, return to their routes. Those who request a transfer can face resistance, union officials say.

On April 2, 2010, a gunman walked mail carrier Rodney Nelson into an alley in the South Austin neighborhood and said: "I'm not playing with you, mother (expletive), give me your mail bag."

Nelson handed over his bag and made it safely back to his truck. But he worried the gunman might return and kill him to avoid being identified. That worry was compounded when the Postal Inspection Service posted fliers in the neighborhood with a sketch of the gunman and an offer of a $20,000 reward, Nelson said.

He took two weeks off and, when he returned to work, asked to transfer to another route. He says management denied the request.

"Management kept saying, 'You need to go back to your route.' I'm like, 'I'm not going back on that route. I got robbed on that route. He knows my face,'" recalled Nelson, 36. "As far as I was concerned, I was a walking target."

When asked about Nelson's experience, Reynolds, the Postal Service spokesman, wrote in an email that management tries to grant transfers to carriers who experience violence.

In Nelson's case, the station manager did not alert senior management of the robbery or Nelson's request for reassignment, as should have been done. After a call from the Tribune, Reynolds said that the Postal Service was looking into how the incident was handled and would consider offering Nelson a new route.

For Nelson, the offer comes too late. Short on money, he moved to Nevada to live with relatives. He said he found a postal job in a nearby town in May but that for three months the Postal Service in Chicago refused to forward the necessary paperwork. Nelson said, "I'm just fed up and trying to move on with my life."

Training efforts

Nelson's experience was one of several incidents in 2009 and 2010 in which criminals targeted carriers and trucks on the first and third days of the month in an attempt to steal Social Security and disability checks. Thefts and robberies became so common, union officials said, that many carriers didn't want to work those days.

Then, in February through May of this year, there were at least five robberies of mail carriers, three of which were at gunpoint, according to the union. In a case May 2, a gun was pressed against the head of the carrier. Just this week, a carrier delivering mail in West Humboldt Park was assaulted and robbed of $40.

The brazenness of such incidents is a sign of the times for the mail carrier — a job that's been a path to the middle class for generations of African-Americans.

"If something was going on in the streets, even the gang bangers would let you know. You got respect," said Andrea Howell, 51, a 13-year veteran who was robbed in Chatham on April 15.

"It used to be understood you didn't mess with the mailman," said Alvin Charleston, 56, who has worked as a carrier for 37 years and never experienced a problem before he was robbed at gunpoint in Chatham on April 16, the day after Howell.

Now, violence has become so common that, Charleston said, "you have some situations where carriers get assaulted or intimidated and they don't even report it, because they think (violence) is part of the landscape."

In recent months, the Postal Inspection Service launched a national program to train carriers in how to handle violence on their routes; the Chicago and Detroit districts collaborated on a video that will soon be shown to all carriers in the Great Lakes region; and earlier this year, Brady, the head of the Chicago Postal Inspection Service, spoke to a meeting of 300 postal workers, telling them, "The most important delivery you make all day is when you deliver yourself back home."

As the Postal Service rolls out training, the union is pushing for a better system of reporting incidents, more flexibility for carriers who have experienced violence, and a system that would notify all carriers after an assault, robbery or shooting.

"Why not alert us?" said Julion, the union head. "If you know what's happened, then you're not out there whistling and delivering mail. You're keeping your eyes open."

Reynolds, the Postal Service spokesman, said there is no policy that requires supervisors to alert carriers to robberies or assaults, but noted, "it is the clear expectation."

Pray for safety

In the aftermath of an assault, carriers say, they struggle with anxiety and fear. One carrier went to a counselor, who taught her deep breathing techniques to ward off panic attacks. Another joined a support group and immersed herself in inspirational readings.